Gareth Peter with his book My Daddies. (Twitter)
Two gay dads have banded together to create a children’s picture book that represents their own experiences of raising children.
Gareth Peter wrote My Daddies about his experience of adopting two children with his partner. It was illustrated by Garry Parsons – the artist behind children’s classics The Dinosaur that Pooped – who is also a gay dad.
Peter, from Nottingham, told BBC News that he wrote the book after he and his partner noticed that there was a clear lack of children’s books with same-sex parents.
The father-of-two said: “When our first boy came to live with us I felt there was a complete lack of picture books with LGBTQ+ families in them, ones that included families like ours.
“I think it’s essential children are able to see themselves represented in books.”
He continued: “Schools are changing their policies around teaching relationships and sex education and I think it’s important there are colourful, fun, vibrant books that talk about a whole spectrum of families.”
My Daddies author Gareth Peter wants LGBT+ families to be represented
The 40-year-old said he knew he always knew he wanted to be a dad, but growing up gay in the 1990s made him think it wouldn’t be possible.
It was a “proud moment” for Peter and his partner when they adopted two sons, giving them the opportunity to hear the “magical word ‘daddy’” for the first time.
Peter said he wanted to capture that experience in his first children’s book.
“When a child of a blended or LGBTQ+ family sees our book, I hope they will see themselves,” he told the BBC.
“But when a child from another dynamic sees it, I hope they will accept that families come in all shapes and sizes.”
My Daddies is the first picture book about two gay fathers that has both an LGBT+ writer and illustrator published by Puffin.
“It’s a picture book that features a wonderfully likeable, fun and loving family that every reader will relate to, and answers an urgent need for more representations of gay characters in children’s literature,” said Puffin’s editor director Joe Marriott.
